<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Sing to Me Your Sorrows by HazelGatoya</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873874">Sing to Me Your Sorrows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya'>HazelGatoya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between the Devil and the Digital Sea [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Clara Dolls don't tell Homura anything, Gen, Homura has everyone worried about her, Kyubey Abuse, Mentions of Suicide, More mechanics, Nagisa is a smart cookie, Oktavia is kinda done with the world but that's just witches, Sayaka going about doing good, Sayaka has an older brother because I say so, Sayaka-centric</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:08:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873874</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sayaka decides to take action to carefully help Homura with entropy, and over the course of a week, does.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kamijou Kyousuke/Shizuki Hitomi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between the Devil and the Digital Sea [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sing to Me Your Sorrows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Of course the one that moves the plot forward is over 5,000 words, I can't write short important things-</p><p>Then again it might have something to do with the fact that ALL THE CHILDREN ARE IN THIS ONE.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>        <em>So you wish again to declare justice to the world. You know full well that you can find no hope in justice.</em></p><p>"My best friend is the literal concept of hope, I don't need to find it in myself. She holds it for me. The reason I gave in to the despair you showed me and ignored mercy from her and Kyoko is because I thought myself beneath it."</p><p>        <em>We are beneath it.</em></p><p>        "Why, then, did Madoka save us? Both of us?"</p><p>        <em>Kyosuke was the one who benefited from our wish. He is worth more than us.</em></p><p>        "That's a lie."</p><p>        <em>Says the girl sitting on the sidelines while that... that </em>devil <em>reigns on high.</em></p><p>        "That kinda is our situation, isn't it? That's why we're having this conversation." </p><p>        ...</p><p>        "...Oktavia. I need you."</p><p>        <em>I am your despair. Do you truly want to dance this waltz of pain again?</em></p><p>        "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Because this time, I can use it to help instead of harm."</p><p>        ...<em>Interesting. Kyosuke, start the tuning ceremony.</em></p><p>-</p><p>        "And you have no idea why?" Hitomi asked as she studied Kyoko's slightly cloudy soul gem. </p><p>        "Yeah, no." Kyoko blew her bangs up out of her eyes. "Was just like that last night. A sucky end to a sucky day, I guess."</p><p>        "I'm sorry, Kyoko." Mami stared at the soul gem as well with concern in her golden eyes, hand curled near her chest. "I wonder if there's some way to restore it's luster."</p><p>        "Scientifically, I'm not sure..." Hitomi frowned thoughtfully.</p><p>        "Could I see it?" Sayaka asked, holding her hand out but keeping her gaze on where Homura was sitting a few feet away from the rest of them. Madoka was over there too, and Kyubey was perched uneasily between them, all three of them staring at Homura's laptop. The devil herself looked exhausted enough to pass out again today, but there was a razor focus in her blue eyes that hadn't been there yesterday.</p><p>        Sayaka hoped that she was too tired and focused to notice what was about to be attempted about seven feet away from her.</p><p>        Kyoko's life was placed in her upturned palm, and she drew her gaze from the party of gods to the flames she called a friend. Kyoko was staring towards the others now, a slight scowl on her face. "Homura's mouth is doing the bunchy thing. Game must not be going well."</p><p>        "Oh is that what she's doing?" Hitomi tilted her head before her brow creased. "That aside, she still doesn't look well."</p><p>        "I've been wondering if something happened," Mami remarked softly, a lot of concern suddenly coloring her tone. "All of you have been... very careful around her today."</p><p>        <em>This warm flame was shattered for me once. </em></p><p>        "She passed out during our last class yesterday," Kyoko huffed while Sayaka carefully drew out her own soul gem, letting it glow faintly in her other palm as she held both of them up. "'Doka and Sayaka even had to help her get home, and now she's back acting like nothing happened. I know it ain't my business, but-"</p><p>        "You're still worried," Mami finished, and Kyoko <em>was</em>, Sayaka could feel it in the heat of her soul gem that was now also glowing faintly. The clouds within making the flame erratic, the turmoil.</p><p>        <em>Please, God, if you're there... let me have just one good dream.</em></p><p>        "I just don't know what to do or why I care, y'know?" Kyoko told the other two. "I asked earlier and she said she was fine in that way that completely stops the conversation."</p><p>        "She's always been good at that," Hitomi sighed, and Sayaka closed her eyes, concentrating.</p><p>        <em>You pulled me out of my sea of grief and I extinguished your flame you had renewed from smoldering embers. Homura and Madoka managed to reignite that flame in their kindness. It will never burn out against the sea again.</em></p><p>        "I'm honestly impressed that Madoka has managed to get so close. Akemi-san has never held much interest in other people before," Hitomi continued, and Sayaka opened her eyes with a bit of a shuddering breath. Power had shifted, but-</p><p>        Everyone around her jumped when Homura's fist slammed down on the bricks she was sitting next to, a look of thunderous fury on her face as she stared at the screen. Kyubey- who had narrowly avoided getting hit- scrambled to perch on on the <em>other </em>side of Madoka. <em>Well there goes that planet,</em> he muttered sourly.</p><p>        Hearing genuine emotion in his telepathic voice was still really weird. Mami, Hitomi and Kyoko all looked at each other with frowns. Madoka had a hand up near her mouth, her face pale and grief written in her pink eyes before she closed them, composing herself and then placed a hand on Homura's shoulder, causing Homura to take out her earbuds and look at her.</p><p>        Sayaka clenched her hand around her own soul gem, making it sink into her palm before wiping the tears from her cheeks. Madoka couldn't give Homura the proper comfort- not with who Homura believed this Madoka was, and the context of what had just happened. To this Madoka, the battle for the universe was just as much of a computer game as it was to the other three girls. </p><p>        But- and it killed Sayaka to think this way, <em>but,</em> what was important here in this moment was that Homura was far too enraged by her failure to notice the shift in power that had occurred. After all- "You can't help someone who's too proud to accept your hand," she told the other girls, sitting up straight. "She'll be fine eventually, Madoka and I are doing our best with-"</p><p>        Kyoko snatched her soul gem back, staring in awe at the clear, sparkling red. "Oh my god! What did you do?"</p><p>        Sayaka winked at her, letting the previous conversation topic die without struggling. "Hey now. I can't give you all my secrets."</p><p>        "You coy-" Both of them laughed when Kyoko roughly tousled her hair, and Mami and Hitomi exchanged smiles. "How'm I supposed to fix it myself if I don't know, huh?"</p><p>        "You don't." There was no way to restore hope without the counterbalance of despair, so Sayaka sat up again, fixing her hair as she smiled at Kyoko. "I'd tell you if you could." A quick glance to the left showed Madoka hugging Homura, the taller girl's face buried in their goddess's shoulder. Distracted still, even if Kyubey was watching their group with interest. "If it gets cloudy again, just give it to me. That goes for you too, Mami."</p><p>-</p><p>        "You ever think that train stations are just man's attempt at recreating purgatory?"</p><p>        "That's... an interesting way to start a conversation..."</p><p>        "I think the theory holds some merit."</p><p>        "You're in middle school, right?"</p><p>        "Does that mean I can't see when someone's considering getting on the fast track to heaven or hell instead of slogging through life without bothering your fellow inmates, trying to find some hope and happiness in the world?"</p><p>        "...Apparently not. That's also an interesting euphemism. Ha... haha... Is it really so easy to tell?"</p><p>        "I looked at the tracks the same way once is all. So, you want to tell me what's up or just talk about the weather?"</p><p>-</p><p>        "You... you are doing our job." The Clara Doll stared at her with wide blue eyes, the hat on her head had a red pom-pom instead of Ganko's white, and her hair was red. "Are you one of the Mistress's dolls too?"</p><p>        <em>Manuke,</em> a thousand singing voices whispered. <em>Stupidity.</em></p><p>        "No, I'm not Akemi's," Sayaka replied between huffs and pants, her soul gem throbbing with all of the fury of the sea in her clenched fist. She didn't move from where she's leaning against the wall. "She doesn't know... and I need this, for now. I'll give everything I gather to her eventually, but not now, okay?"</p><p>        Manuke tilted her head, but then Madoka is there, patting her on the head and making the doll gape up at her. "Goddess!"</p><p>        "Shhh, not where everyone can hear, little one." Madoka smiled at the doll. "I'll take care of my friend okay? Don't tell Homura-chan."</p><p>        Manuke hesitated, and then nodded, scampering off into the shadows of the train station. Madoka hurried to Sayaka's side. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, grasping her shoulder. "I can..."</p><p>        "No, no, don't do anything she would notice." Sayaka bit her lip just firmly enough to hurt but not draw blood, then dragged in a deep, shuddering breath, slowly exhaling. There was an entire ocean roaring in her ears. "I can handle this. I <em>will </em>handle this."</p><p>        Madoka stared at her, steely resolve entering her pink eyes after Sayaka witnessed what was likely an entire war flicker behind them. "I understand. But you need to be careful, Sayaka-chan. It will help no one if you fall too far."</p><p>        "Hah..." Never again. She would never drown again. She would let Homura rewrite her memories as many times as she tried to save Madoka before that ever happened.</p><p>-</p><p>        "You really shouldn't invade a girl's shower, Kyubey."</p><p>        <em>You didn't fill the bath, and the water is aggressively hot today.</em> The white furball king of insensitivity settled himself on the shelf with her soul gem, lowering his pink eyes to peer closely at the black scales that were curling around it's surface. <em>While I have emotions now, I cannot say that I... understand them.</em></p><p>        "Welcome to humanity," Sayaka huffed, scrubbing her short blue hair- admittedly, aggressively. "So I guess you and I are learning from each other. Look buddy, I can't take in that much depression without feeling a few side effects... can't bring Oktavia back to full strength without the extent of emotions that birthed her in the first place."</p><p>        <em>I understand that much, but I have taken... a lot of pain in as well. I understand the aches and pains and thoughts that come with it all, none of them logical, and it does make me rather irrational at times. I still don't understand.</em></p><p>        Sayaka hissed, pressing her fingers to her temples. "It's not <em>personal</em> for you. This is easier for me than creating Oktavia in the first place. Taking on another's curse is nothing like raising your own."</p><p>        <em>...What is raising your own like?</em></p><p>        That was the question, wasn't it? It likely wasn't exactly the same for him, or for anyone else- magical girls were a beast of a singular breed. But she was willing to bet that there were similarities. "I still don't think you would get it. Incubators aren't all that individual. You're accustomed to working for the collective good of the universe, or your version of it anyways. A bunch of emotions isn't going to just change that because you suddenly have them now."</p><p>        <em>I feel like you are rambling.</em></p><p>        Sayaka inhaled, and the water stopped hitting the floor of the shower naturally as her soul gem glowed a deep, dark blue. Kyubey sat up straight, watching as water and steam swirled around her body as a thousand glistening droplets. "I think I've found the words," she murmured.</p><p>        <em>Then please.</em> He gave a "go on" gesture with his paw as she turned back to him, the water still moving like a tempest around her.</p><p>        "What you did to us... imagine being given one goal, one purpose, one wish. You start down a path with that goal in mind whether you know that you did or not. Everything else, all of your backups, all of everything that you could have used to change your trajectory get pushed out of your mind. So you're left with nothing to focus on but the goal, but that's fine. You can just achieve that... but you can't." There was a tempest in her blue eyes, her hair whipping around with the water now as it rose into a wave behind her and Kyubey pinned his ears back. "You can't, so there is nothing left fighting for. That's what it means to raise a personal curse. It's watching everything fall apart around you, everything getting worse and worse, until you too fall apart. Some girls have resisted it, like Kyoko, but Madoka once told me that she's a very, very big exception to the rule, and even she didn't do well before Madoka rewrote things. You're not a magical girl, Kyubey. Now that you have emotions, you can change, you can have alternate goals, side goals.</p><p>        "But you will <em>never </em>understand what Akemi and I have been through, so you can make your peace with that."</p><p>-</p><p>        "Sayaka, what <em>is</em> that?"</p><p>        <em>Behold the abused,</em> Kyubey sighed grumpily from where he was wrapped in a big fluffy towel under Sayaka's arm. </p><p>        "That wasn't abuse, that was retribution," Sayaka retorted, before turning back to her older brother, Jusuke. Poor guy still looked half-asleep, his dark blue hair mussed and one eyebrow arched as he stared at Kyubey with puzzled gray eyes. "This is Kyubey. He belongs to a classmate of mine. He came into my shower so I held him under the shower head for awhile." That was an acceptable and believable substitute for the deluge she'd hit him with right? Right.</p><p>        "...It talks."</p><p>        "Yup. Unfortunately." Sayaka came over to the table, setting the Kyuburrito down on it so he could grump there before sitting in one of the four chairs and looking her brother up and down. "You look like you need cold water to slap you into waking up. Were you waiting on me?"</p><p>        Jusuke sighed, rubbing his face. "No. Just... not looking forward to school today is all. Last night was rough."</p><p>        Sayaka sat back in her chair, wondering only briefly if she could handle any more negative energy this morning before quietly summoning her soul gem to sit in her closed fist. Wondering with a pang just how much her tunnel vision in the first (What was the number Madoka had given her? 96th?) timeline had caused her to neglect those around her. "You wanna talk about it?"</p><p>-</p><p>        "Kyosuke, just... a question."</p><p>        He chuckled. "I probably owe you a lot of answers at this point."</p><p>        "You might change your mind depending on whether or not this hits your emotional jugular."</p><p>        "Oh sheesh. That serious?"</p><p>        "Nah... nah. I was just wondering if you had dreams about me dying."</p><p>        "..."</p><p>        "I'll take that as a yes. Huh."</p><p>        "Wh-what... why would... who else is having dreams about you dying?"</p><p>        "Everyone, really."</p><p>        "You don't look that disturbed..."</p><p>        "You do."</p><p>        "Of course I'm- why wouldn't I be? ...Is this about not having time for you?"</p><p>        "No, no. Honestly asking whether or not seeing my drowned body continuously is disturbing is probably a pretty insensitive question. I probably shouldn't have even asked, this is happening to all the people I'm close to."</p><p>        "...Sayaka, do you have dreams about dying?"</p><p>        "Oh, all the damn time. You get used to them, though, don't worry."</p><p>-</p><p>        "Nee-san had a rough day yesterday." Very serious chocolate brown eyes framed by hair that looked like milk stared up at Sayaka, and Nagisa was holding both her brown soul gem and Mami's slightly cloudy golden one in her hands. </p><p>        Maybe it was because Sayaka knew her as <em>Charlotte</em> first, but with that pink dress, the little one really did look like a dessert.</p><p>        "Did she tell you that I can clean soul gems, or can you just tell?" Sayaka asked, reaching out for the cloudy golden one.</p><p>        "I didn't remember for a very long time, and it's hard to see if you're not looking, but I can see the shifts that Madoka-sama is subtly hiding from Akemi-san." Nagisa's voice was a whisper as she handed over the soul gem and looked at the cheese that was on sale next to them. "You're gathering energy and I don't know why, but... could you show me?"</p><p>        "Yeah. Watch closely, though." Sayaka summoned her soul gem that had a scaly tail wrapped around it now after nearly a solid week of work on it. "This is kinda a grocery store and we're both here with older siblings that will think this is weird so I'm gonna try and make it quick."</p><p>        Nagisa giggled, watching as both soul gems glowed in each of Sayaka's palms and she began shifting the balance of power. The balance of stress. She didn't know exactly what had happened to cause Mami's heart to be so tightly wound up yesterday, her struggles to breathe- but she didn't need to know and Mami didn't need to drown.</p><p>        More scales crept up the blue surface of Sayaka's soul gem, and she exhaled, the familiar emptiness swirling inside of her. "I can feel Charlotte," Nagisa whispered, taking Mami's soul gem back and cradling it like the precious life it was. "I can feel the hunger, the sadness, the loss that she has. And I can't stand looking at it. You're giving Oktavia so much power."</p><p>        "Sayaka Miki shattered a long time ago, and so did Nagisa Momoe," she replied gently, understanding the younger girl's concern. "We exist as we are due to Madoka's grace... and well, Akemi's consideration. Charlotte and Oktavia are always going to be parts of us, but at this point, I can just ignore what I don't like about myself. I need to pull my own weight- and my weight includes her."</p><p>        Nagisa cocked her head. She was very young for a magical girl, but Sayaka was fairly certain that she saw an inkling of understanding before Mami called out, and they turned around and went their separate ways, the scene in the cheese section silently agreed to be swept under the rug for now.</p><p>-</p><p>        "You can't stay at school like this, Homura-chan."</p><p>        Homura jerked her head up from its attempt to fall into her arms at Madoka's quiet comment. Friday number three, same old song and dance with a bit more preemptive strike as a bridge before they got into the chorus. "I... I am..." She lifted her hands and rested her forehead in them, face screwed up in a grimace. "I shouldn't... be..."</p><p>        "You're gonna pass out. Again," Kyoko told her flatly, her hand on Madoka's desk as she glared slightly. "You need to be in the nurse's office at the very least."</p><p>        "I'm fi..." Homura's voice trailed off into a yawn before she shook her head.</p><p>        "You can't even finish a thought there, Akuma," Sayaka remarked before she could try to get another word out, and Homura turned to her, managing to narrow her dark blue eyes. And then they went wide with shock, and she suddenly looked fully awake for the first time all day, a light shimmer flickering inside her earring. Sayaka gave her a grim smile. "You should really go home."</p><p>        "What..." Homura continued to stare at her, hands forming claws on the desk. "What have you done...?"</p><p>        "Uh." Kyoko blinked.</p><p>        "Homura-chan... Sayaka-chan..."</p><p>        Madoka's voice seemed to snap Homura out of clawing at her desk and giving anything away, and Sayaka bobbed her head towards the door. "There's nothing you can do about it today, Akemi. We can talk tomorrow, and I <em>do </em>mean talk. I'm serious about our little amnesty. But I want you at your best to hear what I'm going to say."</p><p>        Homura's stare could cut glass, color rising in her cheeks as the air probably literally dropped about ten degrees. She took a couple short, unsteady breaths, hands trembling, and then slammed said hands on the desk, whirling past Madoka and storming out of the classroom.</p><p>        Kyoko gaped after her, then swung around on Sayaka. "I'm sorry? What just happened?"</p><p>        "I think there were better ways to go about that..." Madoka sighed.</p><p>        "Eh, we've always been like this." Sayaka waved a hand. "Doing it any other way would be weird. Don't worry, Kyoko. She'll be over it by tomorrow."</p><p>        "That does not explain what just happened, Sayaka." Kyoko angrily stuck a Pocky stick in her mouth. </p><p>        "It doesn't," Ganko agreed, the Clara Doll sitting on one of the empty desks, swinging her legs. "But Kyoko, do you really think you are ready for that explanation?"</p><p>        "...The hell's that supposed to mean?"</p><p>        Sayaka sighed. "It's an old mess between me and Akemi that you don't want to get involved in, Kyoko. Trust me on that one. I'd rather you kept your tentative friendship with her than fall through with me if the talk tomorrow... doesn't go so hot."</p><p>        Kyoko shook her head. "She better be over it by tomorrow."</p><p>        "She will be," Madoka assured her softly, and given the pink-haired girl was the one who understood Homura best, that's where the conversation ended.</p><p>-</p><p>        <em>The world was a sickening whirl of steam, wheels, and instruments. All of it underwater, and on the throne was... her, but not her. Her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. All that she had been robbed of and all that she was.</em></p><p>
  <em>        Oktavia von Seckendorff was seventeen years old now, her eyes grey and filled with swirling storm clouds, her pale blue hair falling out of her steel helmet to the middle of her back. She turning that gray gaze down to Sayaka, her shimmering tail swishing back and forth. Sayaka watched the waves on the scales before drawing in a breath. The world grew sharper, more solid, grounded. They were in a concert hall, and Kyosuke was conducting the orchestra in a quiet symphony. "Here we both are, then. You've rebuilt my labyrinth inside of your soul gem quite nicely." Oktavia cocked her head. "But it's really not that, yet not a grief seed either. Something new. Just like the devil."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        "Yup. We're both magical girl and witch now- I realize now how utterly toxic the thoughts that created you were." Sayaka sighed, her hands on her hips. "The world is filled with people like me, but unlike magical girls, humans have the potential to change. The potential to learn from their mistakes rather than wallowing in them or repeating the same cycle over and over again."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        "I do not believe you have seen the worst the world has to offer." Oktavia leaned forward on the throne, her hands folded in her lap. "And I'm not certain that we can truly come to terms with Homura Akemi."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        "That anger I had at her was stupid and because of a lot of miscommunications, and you know it." Sayaka huffed. "Oktavia, I want to help people. No matter how much she's playing up her role of villain... Akemi needs allies. This world is ours. I cannot sit down and watch her struggle when she has given me the opportunity to stay with Kyoko. Watch her do for Madoka what I could not. I am a magical girl, and it was foolish, but I took this path for the sake of others."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        "And you want to continue to do so." Oktavia narrowed her eyes. "You think you have the power to do so. Do you remember what happened when you first challenged her?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        "It won't be as easy this time, for her to just clap her hands and make you dissipate," Sayaka replied. "...Especially on a Saturday. But that's besides the point. Things cannot remain as they are. I will not get anywhere with her if I do not ask her if I can help. And so..." She reached her hand up to the witch, her soul gem covered in black scales. "I need you to be more attached to me. I need all of me in order to stand up to her."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>        Oktavia studied her for another long moment. And then reached one gauntlet down towards the soul gem, and the music crescendoed like a wave coming in as the entire area glowed with a bright, pale blue light.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>        The devil was outside of her house, practically boring holes into the glass of her window with her eyes at five-thirty in the morning, Ganko by her side. Up bright and early despite how exhausted she looked, it would seem. Sayaka gave her a small wave, and then closed the curtains with a half-exasperated, half-nervous sigh. "Jeez."</p><p>        One morning routine later and after informing her family that she was leaving early, she headed out the door, giving Homura a small nod. She was still wearing stilettos, even if she was actually dressed in the proper school uniform today. "Morning, Akemi."</p><p>        "Miki." Those dark blue eyes were narrowed, and Sayaka knew that she was being studied.</p><p>        "We should probably walk and talk. I texted Hitomi and Madoka to let them know that I'm not walking with them to school today." Homura started moving after the suggestion, gaze going forward even as her lips pressed together, and Sayaka fell into step beside her. Ganko was silent as she trotted along on the other side. "So you're not happy with me."</p><p>        "No. I would think that was obvious." Homura kept her gaze forward, her voice quiet, expression and tone level. "You refuse to stay ignorant."</p><p>        "I don't want to. I'm a magical girl-"</p><p>        "There are no magical girls in this version of the universe." And that was a hiss, Homura's hair and earring whipping to the side as her face suddenly face Sayaka again. "There is me, there is the Law, and then there is everyone else."</p><p>        "I still have my soul gem, Akemi. We all do," Sayaka replied, taking a deep breath. She needed to stay calm. She'd really hate it if the last week went down the drain. "But the all thing is besides the point. I'm the only one that has remembered, and I haven't told anyone else."</p><p>        "Which is why we are speaking about this and I haven't erased your memories again." Homura seemed to attempt to recollect herself as well, taking a deep breath of her own. She turned away, closing her eyes. They weren't even walking on the streets anymore, the world around them warping to an endless field of spider lilies. Likely where Homura usually walked when she was trying to get somewhere. "What is your game, Sayaka Miki?"</p><p>        "I asked Kyubey if you knew about entropy, and he gave me the general gist of what you're doing to fight it. Including the Clara Dolls' role. I wanted to experiment, and, well, you can see the result here."</p><p>        Homura actually looked at her again, and Sayaka was fairly certain that she could see stars swirling in the depths of those eyes. "You've restored the entirety of Octavia's strength as a witch by working through the despair in this city and keeping it for yourself. I know what you've done. I want to know why."</p><p>        "You need more than the Clara Dolls to collect energy, I figure. There's only so much each one can carry at a time, and I'm sure that even you have a maximum capacity even if it's larger."</p><p>        "It is larger than yours and yours is larger than my Dolls." Homura's head was tilted now, she looked curious. Good, curious was good. Sayaka knew that Homura wasn't exactly... <em>fond </em>of surprises, but she wasn't reacting too badly to this one now that they had been talking for awhile. "Let me see your Soul Gem."</p><p>        Sayaka lifted her palm, and her soul gem rose from it. It looked the same as it always had except for the pitch black mermaid coiled around it's surface and reaching up to the sky. Homura held her hand out for it, and Sayaka hesitated for a moment before handing it over. Homura turned it over in her hands, definitely studying it as they continued to walk. There was no violating feeling, like what Kyubey had once done as a lesson, though. </p><p>        Ganko skipped ahead of them, running through the field of spider lilies that had no end. "Why do you always bring her to school?" </p><p>        "Because she enjoys being at the school while I'm there, raises a very large fuss if she is not permitted to come, and I don't want to deal with said fuss." Homura huffed a soft sigh, hands closing around Sayaka's soul gem as her eyes also closed. "Why should I trust you? You have never helped me in the past, only gotten in my way time and time again."</p><p>        "People change, you know." </p><p>        A bitter scoff, and Homura opened her eyes to glare at her. "You insist you're a magical girl. They don't."</p><p>        "Yeah, well, this world gives me the opportunity to do so." Sayaka gave a small shrug.</p><p>        Homura pressed her lips together again. "That's not the point. You're supposed to be as happy as you could be here."</p><p>        Sayaka gave the dark-haired girl a bit of a bitter smile. "Aw, come on, Akemi. You know how bad I am at being happy."</p><p>        Homura's hands actually moved in a frustrated gesture as she looked up at the impossibly blue sky with no sun or clouds. And then she tossed Sayaka's soul gem back to her, and Sayaka caught it with silent appreciation that at least Homura was acknowledging that she probably shouldn't hold someone's life while her control wasn't at it's best. "Of course I do." She turned on Sayaka, actually pausing in the field, and Sayaka stopped as well, the moment they did, the field turned into the area just in front of the school gate. "I have rules."</p><p>        "I figured." She'd always been a bit of a control freak, Homura Akemi.</p><p>        "One, Madoka is not involved in this at all. I don't care if you remain friends with her, but you keep her out of any of our business. If I find out that-"</p><p>        "Easy, Akemi. If she finds out what you did, it won't be from me." She already knew, after all. Homura blinked, seeming taken aback. "It's not like we do everything together in this timeline like we did in the first one."</p><p>        "Ninety-sixth." Ah yup that was the number, and hearing it grumbled from Homura made her smile again. Wryly this time. "Two, you need to fill certain quotas. I don't think that will be a problem for you, work never has been. And three, don't tell the other girls either." Homura turned away. "Not everyone is as... infuriatingly self-sacrificing as you."</p><p>        Hypocrite. "You might want to be more careful with Kyoko since she is <em>really </em>worried about you, but yeah, again. They won't hear it from me." Sayaka shrugged, taking note of Homura's still narrowed eyes before holding out her hand. "I'm serious about this. I know we've had our differences, but I want to do my part. You've taken on the duties of the Law in your so-called "betrayal", and I'm still one of her angels. That means I want to see her work continued in any way I can." <em>And to help you, idiot.</em></p><p>        Homura had flinched slightly at the mention of the Law, staring at Sayaka with her head tilted. As if Sayaka was a particularly difficult puzzle she couldn't figure out, an oddly blank and exhausted look in her eyes. The silence between them in front of the still closed school gate stretched while Ganko peered out through the bars on the other side at them.</p><p>        Then Homura lifted her hand, and the two witches, the two best friends of Madoka Kaname, reached across the rift of dead bodies, misunderstandings, and galaxies that had divided them for timeline after timeline... sealed their own partnership with a handshake.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>